For every real , direct substitution gives the axially equivariant monomial rational map identity
The first is a spatial rotation through about the third axis compensated by a target rotation through , hence by an isospin rotation of the Skyrmion. The second pairs the spatial half-turn about the first axis with a target half-turn about that axis. For , these generate the continuous axial rotation group together with perpendicular half-turns, often written ; it is the group of rotations preserving an axis in the three-dimensional special orthogonal group. Under rotations about the axis, the pure spatial stabilizer of the map itself includes the cyclic group , whereas the larger symmetry just described is combined spatial-target equivariance. Also gives a paired reflection symmetry of its angular density.
The angular Jacobian of a rational map is
It depends only on latitude. Put ; then . Since for , the maximum is at , the equator. For it vanishes at the two poles, producing an axially symmetric ring of angular Skyrme baryon density. For , is the identity: every spatial rotation is compensated by the same target rotation, and the rational map approximation for Skyrmions becomes the fully spherically symmetric Skyrmion hedgehog ansatz. The charge and uses are
The degree-one construction captures the symmetry of the unit Skyrmion exactly; its radial profile still has to be solved. The degree-two map supplies the appropriate toroidal two-Skyrmion symmetry and useful initial data. Higher monomials give axial charge- competitors, but axial symmetry need not minimize the energy: the usual lowest-charge examples already include the tetrahedral three-Skyrmion and the cubic four-Skyrmion. Topological charge determines neither shape nor energy optimality by itself.